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CLIENT NEWS: CRV Ambreed introduces IVF-type technology for dairy breeding programme

For the first time in New Zealand new embryo transfer biopsy and genomic selection technology is being used to boost elite animal breeding for the dairy industry. CRV Ambreed’s Embryo Transfer (ET) programme pulls together existing technology in a new way, to reduce the time taken to produce elite high genetic merit bulls. Animal Breeding Services (ABS) general manager, Jacqui Forsyth says the embryo transfer process for the most part works like IVF for humans. “Eggs are collected from the...

CLIENT NEWS: Young kiwi cyclists launch innovative Hypotonic sports drink

Two former cycling rivals have joined forces to develop and launch an innovative rehydration drink to the New Zealand market. Hayden Washington-Smith, 20, and Olly Ng, 20, have launched PowerAmp Sports and over the past 18 months have developed a range of hypotonic sports drinks targeting elite cyclists, endurance athletes, triathletes, CrossFit devotees and those competing at high intensity or in hot conditions. Their Rapid Hydration range is designed to better rehydrate the body than water or ...

CLIENT NEWS: Hamilton watchmaker Neil Thomas retires after 44 years in the jewellery business

Neil Thomas was just nine years old when he started working in the jewellery business, helping run errands in his father Bob Thomas’ Tokoroa jewellery shop. The store, Thomas Jewellers, was where Neil returned out after high school in Hamilton, working as an apprentice watchmaker from the age of 17 before winning a scholarship to hone his skills training at Omega in Switzerland in his early 20s. That passion for watches, and later jewellery, has seen Neil, now 61, work in the industry for mor...

CLIENT NEWS: Well-known local dairy breeding expert retires

At 70-odd years young, Neil Gamble says his field consultant role with CRV Ambreed is the only real job he’s ever had. He has loved his job, especially 20 years of helping local dairy farmers increase the value of their herds, now retirement has come and he’s imparting his breeding expertise as a CRV rep for the last time. Neil left school at 15 and went straight into contracting on-farm. By 1967 he was leasing a small family dairy farm, adding two more neighbouring farms to the unit over th...

HMC NEWS: Striking the right communications chord

There have been quite a few labour strikes covered by the media over the past month. Nurses, primary school teachers and bus drivers are among the workforces we’ve watched as they rally for better wages and working conditions. Negotiating your way through a strike requires specialist skills in arbitration, intimate knowledge of union negotiating tactics, legal frameworks and more. So what role does communication play in a workforce strike? It plays a massive one. If you start your communicatio...

CLIENT NEWS: King Country community gets financial boost

Four community initiatives across the King Country will receive a financial hand thanks to the latest Heartland Community Funding round. $6,000 was awarded to the Raetihi Community Charitable Trust, King Country Christmas, Little Barrow Markets, and Redgate Newsletters in recognition of their dedication to enhance the King Country. The Little Barrow Markets will put their $2,000 grant toward kickstarting Ohakune’s own winter farmers’ market. Sarah Knight, founder and coordinator of the Lit...

HMC NEWS: From Waikato to Wellington: senior leaders lunch on government relations

Waikato business leaders gathered yesterday to discuss the importance of government relations and listen to a panel of experts on how to better engage with ministers and officials in Wellington. The lunchtime panel discussion on “wooing Wellington” featured three government relations experts: Holly Bennett, director of HSB Government Relations; Sarah-Lee Crellin, former senior communications advisor for the Department of Internal Affairs; and HMC Communications senior strategic advisor Peta ...

CLIENT NEWS: Honey goes hi-tech: New tool has industry buzzing

With New Zealand’s annual honey exports currently valued at $300 million and growing, a new web-based honey blending tool is set to save honey distributors significant amounts of time and money.  The Honey Blending Tool, developed by a team of scientists and data analysts at Hill Laboratories, allows honey distributors with large inventories to easily blend individual honeys to form a target blend to meet specific sales and export criteria...

CLIENT NEWS: Hamilton’s median house price dips 6.25%, lifestyle properties on the rise

The Real Estate Institute of NZ released its monthly residential property statistics this morning showing Hamilton’s median house price has dipped from a 2018 high of $560,000 in June to $525,000 in July.  Lodge Real Estate managing director Jeremy O’Rourke, says the shortage of quality stock at the top end of the market, and thus fewer sales at the top end, has shifted the city’s median.   “We’ve been saying for months that t...

HMC NEWS: 10 signs your communication needs an update

Let’s face the facts: it’s July, it’s winter, it’s wet - or worse, it’s Dry - and the chilly midyear is a bit depressing.     It’s times like these that call for a great big giggle to joggle you out of your wintry funk. So, for all of you who are feeling the blues, this column is for you.    Grab a coffee – or something stiffer – and take a look at my top ten signs that y...

CLIENT NEWS: Engaging video and new website launches to support NZ teachers

HMC Communications has been working closely with the CS4S Trust over recent months to help them engage with New Zealand school teachers working in the digital curriculum.We helped develop key messages for our client - a not-for-profit which stands for 'Computer Science 4 Schools' (CS4S). The trust was in the early stages of setting up an online network for New Zealand teachers - a teachers-only portal where they could share ideas, lesson plans and find out information about the digital curriculu...

CLIENT NEWS: Young opera star Eliza Boom’s road to the 2018 Lexus Song Quest

Former Whangarei soprano Eliza Boom was named runner-up in the 2018 Lexus Song Quest at the weekend. The 24-year-old was awarded the Malvina Major Foundation prize of $10,000 and a study scholarship also worth $10,000. The first place winner was Joel Amosa. Ms Boom said she was “still buzzing” after performing on stage with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra during the competition.     The Lexus Song Quest is New Zealand’s most prestigious singing accolade with a prize pool ...

CLIENT NEWS: Raising the dairy industry’s next leading dairy sires

At the back of Raglan harbour on the West Coast peninsula lies one of the country’s most influential farming operations.   The aptly named “Peninsula Farm” is where herd improvement company CRV Ambreed grazes its young Friesian, jersey and crossbred bulls that wait to find out if they’re the dairy industry’s next megastars.   Each year around 150 bull calves are carefully selected for CRV Ambreed’s Progeny Test programme and are shipped from farms across the coun...

CLIENT NEWS: Sellers in the driver’s seat in Hamilton residential real estate market

A serious shortage of homes listed for sale in Hamilton has put sellers firmly in the driver’s seat, says Lodge Real Estate agent Glenn Collins. “The number of homes listed for sale in the city today is just 685. This is around the same number as July last year. However, what is different is within that number there are a lot more pre-sold properties and properties under contract. That means the true number of homes available for sale is much lower. “This creates a striking imbalance of su...

CLIENT NEWS: Arrived: The Waikato region’s economic development agency

The Waikato region now has an economic development agency and its first order of business is bringing together 250 of the region’s key people to determine major initiatives. The Waikato Regional Economic Development Agency (Waikato REDA) came into existence on 1 July. It is a limited liability company, owned by the Waikato Regional Economic Development Trust. Waikato REDA has a current establishment board and will call for expressions of interest in a skills-based, permanent board before the e...

HMC NEWS: ​The power of silence

As the Ronan Keating hit goes, “You say it best when you say nothing all.” While this song is all about making a love connection with dreamy eyes and soft caresses, let’s use it as a catchy segue into a discussion on the power of silence in business communication. Silence is often the shrewdest communications approach.  And it can often be particularly potent when you’re up against a negative reaction. On the surface, saying nothing – especially when your ire is up - might seem li...

CLIENT NEWS: New certification aims to add 5% to meat and dairy exports

A new meat and dairy certification system aims to capture the true value of meat and dairy exports grown on pastoral farms, and is expected to add at least 5% to the sectors’ current export earnings. Rangedfree is a certification developed in New Zealand for meat and dairy exports that highlights to international consumers its animals have been raised and live outdoors. The meat and dairy sectors are New Zealand’s highest export earners. According to Statistics New Zealand, in 2017 dairy ex...

CLIENT NEWS: The power of the state: New documentary explores the power of government in NZ electricity industry

The electricity industry is a frequent topic of discussion in New Zealand – especially as the months get colder and the power bills get higher. Power bill grumbles aside, New Zealand’s electricity industry, supported and funded by the Government, achieved world-leading feats of engineering and power supply in its early stages at the turn of the 20th century. The creation of massive state-owned hydroelectricity stations, and the people who helped make them happen, are captured in episode two...

HMC NEWS: Award-winning PR agency expands into the Bay of Plenty

HMC Communications, an internationally acclaimed and national award-winning public relations agency, is now operating in the Bay of Plenty. Suzi Luff, Papamoa-based and former Trustpower Community Relations Coordinator, along with Director Heather Claycomb are leading this move which follows a strong period of growth and success for the agency. Claycomb says HMC Communications’ expansion into the Bay of Plenty is a logical next step for the public relations (PR) agency. “HMC Communications...

CLIENT NEWS: Nitrogen-reducing plantain recognised with Fieldays Innovation Award

A plantain that started life as a common weed has been recognised for its contribution to the future of farming with an Innovation Award from Fieldays. Ecotain is an environmentally functional plantain that significantly reduces nitrogen leaching on livestock farms. It was officially launched in September 2017 when proprietary seed company Agricom announced major research findings that showed Ecotain reduces nitrogen leaching from the urine patch, an area containing high concentrations of nitrog...

CLIENT NEWS: Hamilton median house price predicted to break $600,000 barrier by year-end

Hamilton’s median house price achieved another strong median during May at $542,000. This is down from a record median of $560,000 for the month of April and compares to $520,000 in May 2017. Lodge Real Estate’s managing director Jeremy O’Rourke says the dramatic decrease in the number of homes listed for sale in the city is keeping upward pressure on house prices in the city. “Three hundred and six (306) homes were sold in Hamilton during May, however that stock was not replenished at t...

CLIENT NEWS: Kiwi campaign now on at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari

Friends and supporters of Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari are being encouraged to do their bit for the national icon, by supporting a fundraising campaign for the birds. The mountain was last year announced as the national stronghold for western brown kiwi, which will see up to 500 new kiwi introduced to its reserve over the next five years. The opportunity to use this predator-free environment was identified by Kiwis for kiwi, a national charity working alongside the Department of Conservation...

CLIENT NEWS: Young Kiwis take on the world in pool championships

Fifteen of New Zealand’s top junior pool players are heading to the United States to compete at the VNEA Junior World Pool Championships. The Valley National 8-ball League Association (VNEA) is one of the world’s largest amateur pool leagues.The New Zealand players, who range from 12 to 20 years, have qualified for the tournament and will compete in Sioux City, Nebraska in late June. Bernie Endres, team manager and general manager of cue sports club Massé, says the team is loaded with talen...

CLIENT NEWS: Helping dairy farmers avoid FEI penalties with supplementary feed

It’s three months away but New Zealand dairy farmers are already preparing for the impact of Fonterra’s new fat evaluation index (FEI) grading system, which comes into effect on September 1. Fonterra established the FEI test to measure the fat composition in the cow’s milk it collects, to ensure it is suitable for manufacturing products that meet customer specifications. The use of palm kernel expeller (PKE) as a supplementary feed has been identified as a key influencer on high FEI level...

CLIENT NEWS: CRV Ambreed to launch online calculator for farmers to assess cows’ urinary nitrogen output

CRV Ambreed has designed an assessment tool for its clients to calculate how much nitrogen their cows are excreting in urine. It’s an online assessment tool into which the farmer inputs their own data, including the Milk Urea concentration (MU) value on their daily bulk milk reports, to calculate the amount of nitrogen their herd is excreting in urine. Knowing the numbers means they can take steps to address it if they need to. The herd-improvement company made national headlines in 2017 when ...